Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that GMB is able to negotiate on behalf of 200 workers at the Lidl warehouse in Bridgend.

Alun Cairns

The Government has put in place a robust legal framework to ensure workers can be represented by unions if that is their clear, democratic choice. The Government cannot get involved in individual cases such as this one. However, the law states that for a trade union to have the right to negotiate collectively and for its workplace representatives to be eligible for time off to carry out union duties, the union must be recognised by the employer.

Statutory recognition (achieved through the Central Arbitration Committee – CAC) requires that a majority of the workforce support union recognition for collective bargaining with the employer.